Urgent Question about Glaucoma... (updated)

[8 Hairy Feet]

oh yes !
 hoping all goes well for this
special girly
steffxxx

[VickyG]

I work for one of the big pharmaceutical companies as a medical sales rep and my specialism is in human ophthalmology (as apposed to canine) and there are lots of treatments available these days for glaucoma and many other canine ophthalmic conditions (my Henry has dry eye/cataracts). 

A lot of times the human products can be used in canines and I personally use a combination of 4 human pharmaceutical grade eye drops in Henry.  I would like to hope that no dog was pts as there are treatments out there, even if it is to far advanced then a total enucleation  (removal of the eye) is a satisfactory treatment as this will get rid of all pain and as we know any dog can get by with  limited eyesight as well as total blindness.

Cost of treatment for any ophthalmic condition (glaucoma/dry eye/cataracts) would not be cheap though and if no insurance was used I suppose this was why the dog was going to be pts.  I suppose I'm lucky as i get all my eye drops free from work but cheaper options can be used when prescibing eye drops for canines. 

I'm so glad this little dog was spared though, if you need any info about ophthalmic treatments then just give me a buzz (although i will be talking about human treatments).   

[Sheryl]

Thank you, that is very kind of you x

[PennyB]

I'm so glad this little dog was spared though, if you need any info about ophthalmic treatments then just give me a buzz (although i will be talking about human treatments).  

Ruby was treated with human treatments for her glaucoma that I used to get from my local chemist on private prescription (hers were Xalatan and Azopt).

I do think some people think going blind suddenly for a dog is such a big issue that pts is the only option which is very sad. A good vet ophthalmologist is worth their weight in gold to support owners.

Sheryl tell the rescue to make the most of out of hours emergency help on the phone from the eye specialist if the have it - even though Roobs is under my local vet we were told to ring the eye vet day or night for advice as they consider anything to do with eyes as an emergency (the practice had an ansaphone where you left a message and your phone number but on-call vet always rang back relatively quickly). Sometimes its just reassurance that's needed and in my case being told it was OK to give more meds to Roobs (I rang several times usually late at night). The one thing that John did emphasise as well was to make sure the meds were taken at very regular intervals - I would set the repeat alarm on my mobile phone to make sure she got it on time.

Good luck little girl with the op

[MaggieR]

Everything crossed for the little girly today - hope it goes well 

[VickyG]

Penny - a bit of info on getting cheaper eye drops for ya 

Xalatan- latanoprost (pfizer) and Azopt- brinzolamide (alcon) are both excellent products (I've worked for alcon so am slightly biased) and they are both treated for glaucoma and are usually offered together as a total treatment. 

Once a medication is patented and under license it can only be issued by the company who make it ie- azopt (brand name) is made by alcon and contains brinzolamide so the company name the product azopt and no one else can make it or sell it.  However, when the license runs out as in xalatan (brand name) which is made by pfizer and contains latanoprost then other drug companies can make the same product which contains latanoprost and call it a different name or just call it latanoprost and this is then the generic version of xalatan. 

When you go to buy or get on prescription it's best to get the generic version of the drug ie- latanoprost instead of it being written as xalatan as when we go to buy these (unless they are on a prescription) the generic version of the drug is usually an awful lot cheaper.

You can get xalatan as a generic version of latanoprost but as yet you can't get azopt (brinzolamide) as a generic version as we still have the patent (the pharmaceutical world is really fierce about protecting their drugs).

So, long story short but if you want to save some dosh on canine eye drops always ask for the generic version and you can also email or phone the drug companies in the UK (all of the big multi-nationals have UK offices) and ask for samples and they should send you some out as we as reps have car boot fulls of ophthalmic goodies.  If you want to know who the companies are just yell and I'll let you know the names and stuff.

sorry for hijaking this thread Sheryl, I hope the little girl is doing well today 

[Sheryl]

She is through the op. Routine bloods showed she is in good health and she is doing well xxx

[bluegirl]

Excellent news. Thanks for the update sheryl.